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Pirates become a bit bolder, it seems, as they attempt to attack one of the merchant vessels from the Land of Tea. Naturally, the Daimyo and his guard are prepared to deal with them.

Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.

"Vagrant Uprising - Salty Seagoers"

Land of Tea - Ocean

Disturbances have been kind of small lately, but they haven't gone unnoticed by the Tea Daimyo's office. There are patterns in the world that people don't tend to see. It's hard to sneak things past Shuuren, though, as he keeps a close watch on these sort of things even when he himself has been injured. There are things to be done, battles to be waged, and business to be dealt with. A little thing like being poisoned with something akin to an S-Rank jutsu can't keep him from performing his duties.
Aboard a ship with some of his guards at about mid-day, the Daimyo sails toward the site of a disturbance in the ocean that he was notified of by carrier pigeon. Those sort of precautions have become necessary of late, and it's a good thing too. Otherwise lives would be lost as well as cargo.
Today's occurrence is nothing too strange generally, but it does seem to be the latest in a string of events and the most daring so far. A ship of bandits or pirates tried to intercept a trade vessel flying the Tea Country and managed to blast a hole in its side with a cannon. What they weren't counting on, however, is the Daimyo having trained the captain of this vessel himself or the captain being a trained Tea soldier…. or the vessel itself being prepared for an attack.
When the vessel had a hole blasted in it and began to take on water, the captain ran it aground to prevent sinking while he and the crew fought the pirates to prevent the merchants and their families from being attacked while they made their way into a saferoom in the center of the ship that locks similar to a safe and is made completely of metal, as is the cargo hold below and the crew's saferoom above. There were have been a few casualties among the crew, but the captain and others managed to get themselves locked into their own saferoom after sending the message out.
By the time the vessel the Daimyo pilots begins to approach the pirate ship, there are pirates aboard the ship already that are doing their best to try and get into the saferoom. Everything from cannon blasts to lock picking has been tried to no avail thus far. It's not exactly cheap to outfit a vessel like this, but it is a pretty good way to derail these kind of attempts and keep people safe.

Daoma was with Shuuren on his craft heading for a bit of excitement. Well, the kind of excitement Daoma could pummel into submission like one forged kunai from steel. She didn' have to worry about alliances or appearances nearly as much with pirates. So as they came upon the ship run aground, Daoma steppe up and glanced over at Shuuren, frowning slightly. "You think you can avoid serious injury this time?" The samurai was wearing a more subtle armor, decorated lightly but of a good quality. She waited as they approached, waiting for specific orders or just a sign to enter combat….

Ryuusei's eyes spy the far off vessel. It didn't seem as if the pirates were anything more than an isolated event. This was most certainly a random attack, as far as she could tell. Ryuusei stood at the very tip of the bow, stepping up upon the railing and onto the bowsprit as she drew her blade. This blade was of course the seastone blade she inherited from her parents, once a giant hunk of metal, it has been refined into thin estoc-like blade with a blade almost one and a half yards long. Ryuusei was a swordsman, but it was her blade that defined her ability to fight.
Though she claims to be a junior guardsman to Daoma, Ryuusei wears no armor save for a leather vest for limited protection. The rest of her outfit is a long-sleeved white blouse, and brown pants with a half skirt attached to her belt. Bright colors, and of course her white hair is fashioned into long and curly pigtails. To be in the Daimyo's presence is to take some care of one's appearance. "My blade could penetrate the hull of the ship, and cause casualties, Daoma-dono… What are your orders?" The ship was also beached. Which means she could use one of her more violent techniques to bring it out to sea as well once the threat was taken care of. Ryuusei raised a hand to her chin. It was better to wait for orders though… Especially given she needed to leave a good impression on the Daimyo's head guard.

Saki isn't even officially a guard. She's a 'personal assistant' to the Daimyo and takes care of paperwork and organizing his schedule. Why is she even here? Well, she did know how to fight … A bit … It might even be fair to say that she could put up a decent fight. Her clothes might indicate the exact opposite, though, considering they were fairly nice-looking. The only thing that indicated she /could/ fight happened to be a rather old sword at her side. Her father's. If she had some form of armor on, it wasn't visible.
The teenaged girl stands on the boat near Shuuren, a hand on her sword and her eyes scanning the horizon. It was pretty easy to see where the Pirates were at, considering the noise levels. As per her usual nature, she seemed tense, though she was no longer exhausted after worrying endlessly about the Daimyo. Now she was just nervous, which is an improvement … Sort of. Saki would shift her gaze to Ryuusei, a bit of jealousy burning within. She couldn't do anything so flashy like crush a boat, nor could she Manipulate chakra. In fact, if this battle isn't on some form of solid ground, she would be near-useless, which is why she's praying to the gods that they get to stay on the ships.

Shuuren cuts his eyes at Daoma as she poses that question, furrowing his brows a bit. Yeah, he's going to have to get a little payback for that one, though he understands Daoma being annoyed about him getting poisoned by guest princess and her assigned maid. Mari still hasn't been let out of her holding cell actually, wherever that is, and Tsukino has been assigned another.
He looks to Ryuusei as she comments what she can do then looks to Saki briefly before returning his eyes to Daoma as they continue to approach. "I'll get you all within jumping range. Two can deal with the pirates on the merchant vessel and the other two can attack on the pirate vessel. We'll need to attack them simultaneously so they don't get to act and sink the ship before we clear them out." Looking to Daoma, he says, "I'll leave it to you how we handle the plan of attack as to who attacks which one and how, but you'll need to decide swiftly."

Daoma glanced back at the two girls under her command andmotioned Saki closer. "Crouch here. Wait until we are within jumping distance then come across. Ryuusei-san, Here as well." She stepped down her swords hilts gripped in her palms as she explains. "You two hit when you are within range. Saki-san, target the merchants. Get them out safely. Ryuusei-san, you will do the fighting on the merchant ship. Shuuren-dono and you two can come aid me on the pirate ship when you're dne."
And that's what they all preapared to do.. Except Daoma leapt into the air and simply ran across the surface of the water, hooking around the other side of the ships as she zeroed in on her targets… She had bot swrds drawn and she waded in heavily, those crimson eyes seeming to glow with glee…

Ryuusei grips her sword tight. "… Confirmed, I will begin then." She takes a deep breath and jumps off the front of the ship, landing upon the water. Her plans are to enter the ship through the breach, and begin distracting the pirates within so that Saki may fulfil her duty successfully. As she dashes across the water, her half-skirt is kicked up behind her.
She uses chakra to dash, rather than rely on her natural speed. Reaching the ship that is beached, she would hop upon the large hole and slip into the hold. To those pirates she came across upon the deck of her entry: "The time has come. The Daimyo requires your bodies." Ryuusei states, face looking very serious. "Voluntarily, or…" Ryuusei raised her seastone blade, as her eyes narrowed, slipping her free hand upon her bicep as she slipped her legs together in a fencer's position. "… if required, by force."

Saki would nod a bit to Shuuren, glad that she didn't have to walk across water. … She wouldn't even be able to climb up the side of the ships if she fell into the water. At least she could swim? The girl would move over to stand closer to Daoma, crouching down and tensing her muscles so that she could leap over the side and onto the ship. "Umm … How do I know where the merchants are ..?" she would asks, green eyes flickering a bit nervously to Daoma. The girl would take a breath, trying to steady the nerves coursing through her system. Maybe once she was just … in the heat of battle it would be ok. Maybe.
Answer given or not, Saki would leap when she had to, landing in a roll onto the deck of the merchant ship, and she quickly scans the area before she makes her way into the ship itself to seek out this 'safe room' that the merchants are supposed to be inside. Hopefully Ryuusei can provide a good distraction. … And not drown them.

Shuuren lifts an eyebrow faintly at Daoma's plan, curious perhaps why she plans to get the civilians out of the saferooms. Still, it's her plan, so he doesn't intend on contradicting her, so he'll just have to be prepared to heal anyone that takes any damage. He looks to Saki as she asks her question and says, "There are three decks. They're on the middle one," he answers as he continues to sail the ship forward until they are able to get across to their destination.
The Daimyo is busy getting the ship into position, pulling levers to drop anchor and such so the ship doesn't drift off while they're fighting.
Meanwhile the pirates on each vessel would look to the guards and assistant as they come toward them, seeming to actually laugh at the concept of giving up when they've come so far. Each of them would be charged with blades, these men not so ready to give up their bounty when they're so close or think they're so close at least to taking the cargo of the ship.

Daoma peered at Shuure the poof. gone. Shecame around the hull of the ship stomping up the fore tub asshe ran, swords already swinging with a grace that beied her strength and a strength that belied her size. She tured then, acceptng a short sword through her shoulder a second before retaliating. But she was going specificly at top speed, drawing the blade about neck level, hoping to cut her some throats. Betwee her armor and her hair and eyes she was reds and blacks and wrath.

A lot of blades came at her, but she was the distraction. The more the merrier. She slipped backwards attempting to parry a blade while also creating a liquid barrier in front of her to take the strikes. It seems, however, that her ability was still not particular to blocking anything, but at least it reduced the cut that diagonally split her leather chestpiece. With chakra to her feet she tried to jump backwards, but the close quarters made it difficult to dodge anything. A blade pierced her stomach to a certain depth. As it was drawn out, she closed her eyes and drew upon the power of the cursed seal. Something she has begun to rely on more and more lately, and slowly strips away the freedom she never wanted to begin with. From beneath her scarf, the spiral tattoo upon her neck writhed out, appearing from beneath her scarf, beginning to cover a part of her face.
It was true, that the close quarters lined up all the people she wished to kill quite nicely. She raised her sword and focused her chakra around the blade, storing water pressure behind the chakra layer. She then straightened herself up and lunged forward in an attempt to pierce the man in front of her, and blast the one behind him with the expulsion of water that resulted. "My performance… Still lacks… My apologies, Daimyo-sama…"

Saki pretty much ran into the first pirate's blade. Not really on purpose, but it was more like when she was running towards the deck below, she didn't see that glint of metal that indicated something sharp and dangerous to her well-being. Hence, there was now a cut in her kimono along her arm, staining the sleeve red. Saki would be quick to evade the second attempt on her person, shifting just a bit to avoid it. Her eyes would search the people before her as she considers them, and then she would simply try to rush through them, hoping to catch them off-guard so that she could strike the pirates from behind when she passed them by. It was probably an odd tactic, but her priority was to find and make sure the merchants were safe and sound!

Since his guards seem to have this in hand, Shuuren takes his time to make sure their ship is secure. There's no getting back to Tea Country without it after all. Plus, Daoma was insistent on him not getting injured, so he'll let the guards do their jobs for once and let the Head Guard lead them rather than trying to do everything himself.
Meanwhile all three of the guards are pretty successful in carving holes through the pirates and otherwise obliterating them. Even nervous Saki manages to knock the ones she aims at on their backs when she does that rather than try to incapacitate them. However, that doesn't mean there aren't more of them since this is a whole ship worth of pirates, not just a tiny crew, thus more of them come from hallways and even swinging ship to ship to come after them over and again.

Now would be a good time to clean house. With more individuals pouring along the decks, Ryuusei had a good technique that she could use to brush them all out into the ocean… She just needs to know that Saki has the merchants safe. If only she could communicate with her. It seems the individuals who had come out to meet her were far more sloppy than the ones she had dealt with previously, and she merely needed to side step their thrusts. If they want to fight simple, she would fight simple too. To the one in front of her, she brought the hilt of her weapon into the pirate in front of her's chin, her blade pointed behind her, before she raised her blade up and swung down with all her might, cutting a deep wound into her opponent. "Saki!" She called out loudly. "Yell loudly if everyone is safe!" She would hope her words reached her comrade's ears.

Saki would just continue to move forward, slipping through the sharp and pointy ends of the weapons as she moved through the groups of pirates. She didn't really … feel like attacking them all, but she supposed she had to. For the time being, though, she would continue to just knock them off-balance and temporarily stun them with hits to the stomach and backs. She's pretty sure she's getting closer to the merchants, at least, considering these particular pirates seemed very determined to keep her away.

As more of their kind are cut down, some the pirates start to realize this is a loosing effort. They're not shinobi, and they don't care much about rescuing their buddies. However, a number are just as ready to fight as ever. In particular the strongest among them, being the captain, comes after Daoma. He charges forward and strikes at her with an insane level of skill for a pirate and tries to carve straight through her. The remaining pirates after some ran are still coming at Ryuusei and Saki, though luckily Saki has reached the ones that were trying to break in and get to the merchants and other civilians.

Daoma turned, spinning agily on her toes as the captain came in and for a moment it seemed she would have blocked it. But her buckler creaked thengave way, shattering completely, and leaving her forearm bared to the air. The woman's eyes snapped down then back up even as she tried to move with the motion of the sword. But by the end of the motion, as the dust and water spray had settled she was not only hit, but pinned as well. One arm unable to move under the broadsword's weght,the other holding to one of her swords. She had tried to land on her feet but ended up half slumped, pinned to the galley of the ship itself. Daoma looked annoyed (moreso abouther armor being damaged) and then she coughed. The first man near her to laugh at her would find blood in his eyes. Meanwhile, she moved her one free arm inthe only possible attack.. she tried to cut the captain at the wrist, either he would abandon his hand or his sword.. hopefully.

Who said Ryuusei was a shinobi? She barely knows how to hide. The final resistance that is attempting to try and take their chances with the girl whose seal is further enroaching upon her body as she draws from it's power find themselves very, very terribly outmatched. As one pirate draws forward, raising his blade behind him to STAB, Ryuusei's blade thrusts forward with a speed enhanced by the blade's expulsion of water. It would likely stab him and end his life. Probably. Just as the other one comes in to take advantage of another puncturing move, Ryuusei focuses her blade to jettison water in order to move her out of the man she just penetrated and slip her away in plenty of time. Not bad. Instead of attack however, Ryuusei would simply look at the one she hadn't finished off.
"Do you really want to continue?" She asks as the seal begins to overtake more of her body. Half of her face seemed to have coalesced the cursed seal. "Think carefully."

Saki just moved out of the way, this time putting a bit more effort to avoid it because she could see where all the pirates were clambering to try and get the merchants. The girl would choose this opportune moment to draw her sword from its sheath, of course, pausing for a moment to focus her mind. Then, she would blur slightly, attempting to slice down all of the pirates in one fell sweep.

Saki is apparently the lucky one out of the three, as she manages to get rid of the pirates on her end with her slices. Well, she's going after the people and not the cargo, so it makes it easier on her since that's not what the pirates were actually after. Ryuusei and Daoma, however, don't have her kind of luck. There are still pirates coming after Ryuusei despite her success in obliterating their comrades, attempting to slice her up. Daoma, meawhile, manages disarm the captain… by dishanding him. He roars out in pain, but this isn't the first time he's been injured, and it seems to pepper him off more than anything apparetly as she cocks his remaining fist back and aims a fierce punch directly at her fist with intent to knock her the *BLEEP* out.

Daoma smirked at the Captain as his hand fell to the deck. Quid Pro Quo, ya oregano, she thought. Of course that didn't mean she had the room to move away from the punch. it hit her despite her movements and she was impacted twice. Once from his fist and once when the back of her skull cracked against the galley wall behind her. She looked half asleep for a moment and then fell forward,her final sword landing with a loud clatter on the deck as she slumped over the blade still stuck through her and into the wall. Thepiratessurrounding her let out cheers and jeers. One even lifted her limp body up by the hair so they could see this woman. Daoma meanwhile fought between being completely unconscious and at least being aware of what was going on around her.

Everything becomes so much easier now. Ryuusei has never had this kind of success in combat. There's actually a confident smile on her face that wasn't present before, as half her face is enveloped in the cursed seal. The slicing maneuver used against her was easily parried away, and before the individual attacking would find himself being thrust into before he could rear up his next strike. "This is amazing… It's painful, a crushing pain… At the same time, I've never felt so light on my feet!" She told the man she had likely just thrust into. Moments after she attacked, she drew her blade out of his body and danced back to gain some distance. "Saki never called back. Either my voice did not reach her in the decks below, or…. She's already gone…" Ryuusei raises her blade as it starts to turn colors. "That means I can clear out the rest of you law breaking scum."

RP: Ryuusei uses B-RANK-CHARGE.

With her enemies disposed of, Saki chose to make her way into the safe room. Well, the merchants were probably keeping her out, so she knocked politely on the door a few times. "Umm… H-Hello? Could you… Umm… Open the door please?" she calls out. Maybe the merchants will recognize her as a friend by her voice. "Umm… I promise it's safe…" Maybe.

Ryuusei's attack blasts a number of the men back, sending them crashing across the floor. Not quite all dead, however, they stand again and begin to charge her. They're in the middle of the ocean, so it's not like there's much place to run unless the rock sticking up that the merchant ship ran aground on is long enough to lead somewhere… which is rather doubtful. Trying to get her before she can get them seem like the best course of action at this point.
Saki's attempt at getting people to open the door is met with laughs. "Are you crazy? We're not that stupid! If you don't know the password, you ain't getting the door open!" a voice of a man rings out from behind the safe door. Did Shuuren neglect to give her the password? Seems so.
Amidst her hazy vision due to a possible concussion, the things Daoma's senses detect change sharply in an instant. The sounds and sights go from pirates laughing and cheering to sounds of screams and blood and bodyparts flying through the air. One wouldn't even have time to see what's going on as it begins to rain blood through sprays and flying pieces. As the ones holding her up fall, Daoma would feel herself falling toward the deck and yet feel then feel herself landing gently in the arms of Shuuren… who is now clad in his black battle attire rather than his suit. He looks down at her with a smirk and asks, "… You were saying?"

Daoma felt the shift in atmosphere, forcing herself to pay closer attention.. Amidst a rain of blood and body parts. She blinked a few times, thinkng that had to be fro the concussion. But no.. she was suddenly surrounded by carnage. and then she was falling.. though she never hit thedeck. When next she looked up she was looking right at Shuuren's face. His change in clothing was a negative portent for the enemies. Sheknew that but.. She stared at him, right in the eyes as he spoke… She would not put it together right away, the change, but she would remember it. As it was, she could barely breathe and was still bleeding heavily. If she didn't have Mr Magic over here to heal her she would be looking at weeks of recovery. She couldnt even lift that arm to hold onto him. Likely the sword had fractured it, and her legs were completely numb. So she just turned her head into his chest and tried to stay awake.

Ryuusei is far too nimble to be caught right now. Using chakra, she is able to move around far faster than would normally be possible, and when an attack looks like it is about to get past her speed, her blade seems to aid in her dodging. This last blade-assisted dodge, however, set her technique up. As she had been dodging, her blade started to crackle and hiss under the pressure, and as one attack seemed close she broke the chakra casing she had created, letting the water pressure out and ejecting her backwards.
Of course, this also released all of the water out of her blade all at once. Ryuusei had to find something to grab as the torrent came from her blade, the seastone pouring out the reserves of water it had stored… Thank goodness the safety room below hadn't been breached! … A shame Saki was in the deck below. She would find the all that water threatening to take her away too. >.<

"Pass… word…" Saki frowns a bit. She didn't know anything. "I… guess I need to figure that out…" she says, mostly to herself as she would start moving from the middle deck to wherever Shuuren might be. She figured she could find him on the ship of theirs, so she was heading upwards to go find him when a blast of water came down and knocked her backwards from out of nowhere. "I… Tai…" she mumbles, now soaking wet. She also dropped her sword from the suddenness of the attack. "Hnn…" Saki stands up and would have to wander around this middle deck to try and find her sword, though it only took a few moments until she located it. Once found, it would be slipped into its proper place at her side and she would go and try again to find Shuuren.

COMBAT: Shuuren heals Daoma for 2032 with NANO CHAKRA SCALPELS.

If all the pirates on the pirate ship aren't dead, the rest are certain hiding and hoping Shuuren doesn't come below deck to find them as the deck is now so saturated with blood that it's begun to leak through to the decks below. With all the pirates willing to fight taken care of and those on the merchant ship done for thanks to Ryuusei blasting them all away to their deaths, there is now time to take care of things. An extra set of hands come forth from his sleeves and make a handseal that creates a wave of chakra that flows into Daoma to begin repairing her from the inside out while he flickers to move onto the merchant ship.
By the time he comes up behind Ryuusei, the extra hands have vanished just as quickly as they appeared. The lead guard is still being carried, but she is in much better condition than she was before with no pieces of metal stuck in her or serious wounds. "We should go assist Saki. The merchants won't have opened the door since she doesn't know the password. But first…" He finally sets Daoma down and then brings his hands into a seal, creating a set of Shadow Clones back on their own ship that come over with a pair of scrolls that they open to reveal pieces to patch up the merchant vessel, which they are able to accomplish while the original heads down below deck to find Saki.

Daoma sighed softly as she felt Shuuren's chakra working to heal her. She managed to lift her head and whe she was finally set down she took a second to orient herself again. Her one arm was still bared, armorless, and her chest piece was a mess. She growled low in her throat and with a dagger simply cut the armor off her, letting it fall with a clank to the deck. She glanced over at Ryuusei and sighed. Some leader she was. Watching Shuuren head back over to help Saki, Daoma leaned on the railing of their ship, watching Shuuren closely.

Ryuusei appears to be satisfied that her technique had subjugated the rest of the individuals causing her issues. Her blade would slip into her sheath with a soft click, as she heard Shuuren speak. "Right, as you order…" It didn't surprise her that he was there, because perhaps the seal's power let her know when he was close. Her gaze would further glance at Daoma. She looks like basil. Far more than the single cut she experienced. Didn't she have Shuuren's power? The power that was slowly withdrawing back into the cursed seal she bore… Perhaps not… Perhaps she shouldn't have been caught staring for so long.

Saki is just making her way up some stairs when she (almost literally) runs into Shuuren. A small squeak of surprise, and Saki would step backwards. "Umm… Th-The merchants need … a password, but I don't know why…" she would explain, though Shuuren pretty much already knew that. Saki didn't get to see Daoma or Ryuusei since they weren't with Shuuren when the two ran into each other. Also, Saki would probably tag alongside the Daimyo when he went down to speak with the merchants.

"Because they're in there to keep safe from pirates. You think they're just going to come out because a random voice behind the wall said it was okay? That'd be foolish," Shuuren points out with a smirk at Saki as he walks down the staires, passing her and patting her on the shoulder as he moves to the safe room. He rattles off something in a foreign language of some sort at the door, and a moment later it would be opened, and a merchant would step out and bow to Shuuren. "You are safe now. This ship is repaired, and the last of the pirates are being dispatched, and their ship will become part of our merchant fleet and will be outfitted just like this one once I've made the necessary repairs to it. The crew will be back out in a few moments to get the ship back on track to Tea Country. You may all relax in your rooms again." Within a few minutes all three ships would be back on their way to Tea Country. A mission performed well and a new ship added to Tea's fleet. Fade to black.